The one reason your Macbook is slow
This might sound bizarre, but I have found that across the board almost no mac user considers this problem when they find that their Macbook is slowing down
To put it directly, I can guarantee that every Macbook released into the market is being overheated unless you’re not doing much more than just browsing the web. Actually, believe it or not, thanks to Chrome, your mac may even be overheating when you are just BROWSING the web. I do a variety of heavy tasks on my Macbook Pro. Video editing, animation, compiling code, and even gaming. Doing all these tasks on my Macbook Pro has made me very sensitive on when and why my Macbook Pro is slowing down.
Having an overheated Mac isn’t just uncomfortable to use, but as someone who likes to take full advantage of his technology, an utter waste of precious dollars spent. When the CPU reaches a temperature high enough, it will do anything to cool down the computer because of the fear that it will explode. It is like the fight or flight response in humans, in this case, the system is going to do everything it can to cool down your Mac, which means slashing down your CPU’s performance to a potato. If you just spent $2000+ on a maxed-out 15-inch Macbook Pro, that means your system’s performance just got downgraded below even a $999 Macbook Air. This is all cool and dandy, but the reason I’m taking the time to share this information is that it’s so overlooked. This is obviously Apple’s fault, and I’ll explain that in-depth more. But in the meantime, it’s important for the consumer to know that the most prominent reason that their Macbook is “slow” is because of heat issues. When the MacBook is being overheated, I have seen the performance jump by upwards of 50% by simply turning on the fans.
This brings me to fans, and Apple’s stubbornness to increase the speed of them. That is why this is written about Macbooks and not a windows laptop counterpart. At times I’ve seen my Macbook go to upwards of 55 celsius and yet the fans are barely turned up and heard. Apple makes the whole situation worse by having a horrible cooling system, especially on the Macbook Air models.
So we know Apple is to blame here, but as consumers, there are some really easy steps we can take to make this problem much better.
1. Control your fans
A simple yet very effective way to solve 90 percent of this problem is to simply turn up the fans manually. I would recommend maxing out your fans before doing something heavy, and leave the fans on until you are done with the task. I recommend using MacFanControl for this. And no, this is not an affiliate link, their service is completely free without ads, and I have been using them for years at this point. I do understand the concerns with the sound. But with some headphones, the noise should be completely inaudible. If you are totally not ok with the sound, continue with the article.
2. Surfaces
It is important to note that for the best cooling experience, you have to have it on a desk, period. That is why I am never doing anything heavy when I am on the couch. Try to have it on a hard desk surface with nothing blocking the vents, so something like your bed won’t work well for it either.
3. Cooling Pad
This is the only thing on the list that’s costing money. But a small investment for a faster computer should be considered. A cooling pad from Amazon will cost somewhere between 15 to 30 dollars. I got mine for a Chrismas sale for 15 dollars. I will not be leaving an affiliate link, but using the term “cooling pad’ in Amazon search should give you enough good results. The Macbook will sit on the cooling pad, and the cooling pad will sit on your desk. The cooling pad will basically be an external fan that will keep the bottom of your Mac cool, and therefore almost everything inside. A cooling pad is going to be quieter than your Macbook’s fans, which is the appeal. But I personally turn up the fans on my MacBook as well as have it on a cooling pad to get the best cooling possible
4. Be mindful
My last tip is just to be mindful of what applications are taking up your performance. It will surprise you how much the temperature of your Mac will spike up just because Google Chrome is still being opened. What I am saying here is just to be aware of what applications are opened and close the ones not needed.
Conclusion
I hope that this information was new, interesting, and helpful to you. If it was any of those 3, leave a clap for the Medium algorithm! Otherwise, I would love to hear what you have to say about it in the comments!
